Trump Steadfastly Refuses to Call Out Charlottesville White Supremacy

A white power rally in Charlottesville, Virginia devolved Saturday into violent chaos, culminating in the death of one woman and injuries to scores more when, authorities said, an Ohio man drove a car into a crowd assembled to counter-protest the often openly racist demonstrators. After the violent conflict, which also saw the deaths of two Virginia state troopers in a helicopter crash, many political leaders took to social media to denounce the “vile bigotry,” “racism,” and “hatred” amongst the loose band of alt-rightists, militiamen, Klansmen, and Nazi sympathizers whose ”Unite the Right” rally served as a jumping off point for events.

That included traditional Republicans eager to distance themselves from such groups, which have felt emboldened by Donald Trump’s presidency. Colorado Republican Senator Cory Gardner summed the mainstream sentiment thusly in a tweet, “Mr. President — we must call evil by its name. These were white supremacists and this was domestic terrorism.”

As the day went on, it looked more and more like an easy chance for Trump to condemn violence spurred by the most fringe of his supporters. Instead, looking at a layup of an opportunity to call out a group whose members literally chanted Nazi slogans, the president of the United States equivocated.

“We condemn in the strongest possible terms this egregious display of hatred, bigotry and violence on many sides,” Trump said in a short, uncomfortable press conference Saturday afternoon at his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey. “On many sides,” he repeated. With that, the president concluded his press availability. Even the New York Post, Trump’s tabloid bible, came closer to calling it terrorism than the president did on its front page Sunday.

By early Sunday morning, friend and relatives identified Heather Heyer, 32, as the victim in the alleged car attack. On Saturday, authorities arrested James Alex Fields, Jr., 20, and charged him with one count of second-degree murder, three counts of malicious wounding, and an additional charge related to leaving the scene. He is currently in custody. His mother, Samantha Bloom, thought he was going to a rally for the president.

“I just knew he was going to a rally,” she told the Associated Press. “I mean, I try to stay out of his political views. You know, we don’t, you know, I don’t really get too involved, I moved him out to his own apartment, so we — I’m watching his cat.”

“I told him to be careful,” she continued. “[And] if they’re going to rally to make sure he’s doing it peacefully.”

Fistfights and screaming matches broke out amongst the protest and simultaneous counter-protest on Saturday, most broken up by other protesters as law enforcement looked on. Those at the rally shouted slogans like “You will not replace us,” and “blood and soil,” a known racist phrase popularized by Nazis during World War II. Demonstrators waved Confederate flags and brandished tiki torches. The two Virginia state troopers — Lt. H. Jay Cullen, 48, and Trooper-Pilot Berke M.M. Bates, 40 — were killed when their helicopter crashed in Charlottesville as they were patrolling near the site of the demonstration.

Former KKK leader David Dukewas there, crowing about how the demonstrators will “fulfill the promises of Donald Trump.”

As former NBC anchor Soledad O’Brien noted on Twitter, Trump’s equivocation left plenty of room for that takeaway.

Update (5:23 P.M.): On Sunday, the White House issued the following statement in regards to the previous day’s violence in Charlottesville: “The president said very strongly in his statement yesterday that he condemns all forms of violence, bigotry and hatred. Of course that includes white supremacists, K.K.K. neo-Nazi and all extremist groups. He called for national unity and bringing all Americans together.”